Samsung SGH-T809 Review - Introduction & Design

The T809/D820 is a slider phone featuring a large screen and one of the slimmest profiles available on the market today.  At 3.8 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches, the phone is noticeably wider than the average handset; in some ways it looks as though somebody took a standard candybar-style phone and stepped on the front of it until it flattened out underfoot.  Weighing a scant 3 oz., the phone feels amazingly light in hand and is all but forgotten once tucked away in a hip pocket. 

Samsung's advertising and documentation for the T809 shows a variety of young, attractive, and mostly female models holding the handset, and there's no doubt the phone was designed to appeal to the chic (or chic at heart) mobile user.  From the shiny black finish to the hidden keypad and swiveling camera, this phone attracts attention from the moment you take it out of your pocket or pocketbook.  Indeed this phone has drawn comparisons to Motorola's popular RAZR handset - the two phones are very similar in size and weight, though the RAZR is made from metal to the T809's all-plastic construction, and the RAZR is a flip-style phone.

When the T809 is slid shut, the front of the phone is dominated by the 320x240 screen, whose brightness and clarity really has to be seen in person to be appreciated.  Below the screen, a cluster of controls features a five-way navigational pad flanked by left/right soft keys and a second row of three buttons — call send, clear, and call cancel/power — underneath.  A Samsung logo along the bottom edge of the screen and a T-Mobile logo at the bottom edge of the phone near the microphone are the only other immediately visible markings.

Closer inspection, however, reveals a T-Mobile "t zones" logo on the center button of the nav-pad and, more importantly, a swiveling camera mounted along the top edge of the camera.  The 1.3 megapixel sensor can be rotated for self-portraits and standard usage, and also is effectively "closed" - hidden away from dust and fingerprints - when it's rotated away from the user

The phone slides open to reveal a standard 12-button keypad which is quite roomy and comfortable to use thanks to the phone's wide footprint.  Using the keypad is a pleasant experience thanks to the tactile feedback afforded by the buttons themselves (though some may not like the flat buttons since many phones feature subtly domed keys), and also really gives the user a sense of just how thin this phone is.  Holding the phone near the top when it's in the open position is even more dramatic — the area behind the screen just beneath the camera housing is amazingly skinny, to say the least.

Along the phone's edges you'll find ports for the included AC adaptor, combination hands-free headset/stereo earphones, USB 1.1 cable, and microSD memory card.  A 32MB memory card is included to supplement the phone's 65MB of built-in memory.

All of the phone's ports and slots are covered by grey rubber caps that can be a little tricky to open and secure, particularly if you have large fingers and/or short fingernails.  I've heard some complaints from T809 owners that the rubber caps on their phones are constantly falling open, but I've yet to experience any problems with that.

The overall look of the T809 is best summed up with one word:  Hot!  The phone is every bit as sleek and futuristic looking as the RAZR, if not more so, and the front-mounted screen lends an immediate sense of "Wow" to the overall look.  As soon as I got the phone home, however, I made sure to affix a plastic film screen protector to the front of the handset, as the screen's positioning leaves it very scratch-prone.